clans_of_connected_rootsfandomcom-20200214-history
Origins
Every Clan involved in this project, no matter how distant or close, all came from the same place. They were all born of the five original Clans, now considered primitive and ancient. Very little is remembered about them - only their names. No one Clan or cat has all the memories of every Clan; each Clan has a little bit of knowledge of its own ancestry, and even if someone went out with the intent of collecting every piece of knowledge, there would never be enough time to hear it all. Every Clan's experience was different, and every family knows a different version of the tales. This page does not reflect what the Clans or cats know; this is what we, the players and owners of the Clans, know. Use this to your advantage in your worldbuilding. As more Clans are involved, this will be edited to reflect their histories more indepth, and a better picture will be painted. NOTE (1): The Imposter Era holds possible spoilers for the most recent series, The Broken Code. Because TBC has not been fully released, this will follow its own canon, unaffected by what happens in the published books. What is written here will not change as the books are published - this universe already knows! NOTE (2): The average lifespan in the Clans is 7.3 years. So if you're wondering how many generations ago each era started: * Imposter Era: 14 generations ago * Expansion Era: 10 generations ago * Dandelion Era: 7 generations ago * Bloodshed Era: 4 generations ago * Peacebringer Era: 2 generations ago * Starlight Era: current era (spans 2 generations so far) If it helps you conceptualize this: it took three generations for the Clans to forget about SkyClan. (the three generations being Redstar, Oakstar, Doestar; by the time Pinestar came into power no cat knew of SkyClan) IMPOSTER ERA (100 years ago) The freezing-over of the Moonpool should have been the first sign of danger. Even after it had thawed, StarClan was silent, save for the rare few voices. The ThunderClan Leader, Bramblestar, became an advocate for the Code, demanding those who had broken it be forced out of the Clans for their choices. Bramblestar's reign and commands went from upholding the Code to enacting a tyranny across the Lake territories. No cat was safe; a single bite taken before a prayer, a courtship without permission, a hunting patrol without the deputy - any apparent act of unCodeliness could get a cat in severe trouble, with back-breaking punishments or worse. All the while, an underground sect of rebels sought to end the terrible rule of Bramblestar. It was Bramblestar's former mate, Squirrelflight, who fronted the final battle. It was this brave queen of legend that came forward and opposed the ruler's words, and revealed that the body had been invaded by a strange and powerful spirit after Bramblestar's mid-leafbare death. She and her followers were sent into exile; but after several days, more followed. Cats whose lineage bore halfClan routes, queens with rogue sires, cats who feared for their lives and families.Cats who had already lost so much to this time. When the war broke out, few liked Bramblestar enough to fight for him. Of those who remained, most stood back and watched the rebel cause come in, dragging Bramblestar out of his throne on the Great Oak and casting him down. There his life was taken, the spirit loosed from the body. Yet despite the true Bramblestar returning, nothing was the same. So Bramblestar returned to his old name, Brambleclaw, and Squirrelflight took over leadership. The other Clans recovered from the awful reign, though they had lost many to it both in exile and in death. Thus ended the Imposter Era; but the stone that the Clans had tripped over would not be easily stopped in its rolling descent. EXPANSION ERA (70 years ago) After Brambleclaw stepped down from leadership, the Clans were in high demand for new Warriors, after the death of so many breeding-age cats. But there was a problem; the Clans had been in isolation for so long, no cat could find a mate that was unrelated to them. Medicine Cats were forced to veto nearly every mateship, on account of the father's mother being the other cat's sister or somesuch. A call was made to change the Code in reflection of this: the blood was too close, the Clans were too small. So the change was made: Clan cats could mate outside the Clan, but only if they remained loyal to their own Clan. So mating was fine, but romance was not. This resulted in a massive kitten-boom. Queens who felt trapped, surrounded by their cousins, uncles, brothers and fathers, suddenly found themselves free to kit to whoever they liked or fancied. And kit litters were far larger too, as more kits survived to birth thanks to the fresh blood. Litters of two and three suddenly became litters of six and seven. Nurseries were so jammed that queens often whelped outside of Camp in refuges before bringing them to Camp when they were old enough to sleep outside the den safely. These young cats grew up in a Clan more liberated than any generation before them, and they were drunk off it. More kits were born, and freedom was reaped openly. But this posed a problem: the Clans' territories were now far too small. Their size and strength now echoed that of the most ancient tales, when the Code was still being written by those who had long vacated StarClan's hunting grounds. They expanded into the rogue territories, fighting off enemies and making new friends, discovering new friends, members and lovers along the way. As the Clans expanded they found it harder and harder to justify living so close together; why didn't they have more buffer land between them, when all the borders caused was fighting? During one of the final monthly Gatherings, SkyClan was the first to make the decision: they were going to travel away from the Lake. Not to cut connections, but to find their own path. ShadowClan followed suit, haunted by their Clan's bad past and wanting to rediscover their destiny. WindClan and RiverClan made the call on the same night. ThunderClan, traditional as always, was the last. And so, the Lake lay empty. DANDELION ERA (50 years ago) This is where the history grows muddled. Each Clan experienced something different, strange, challenging, exciting and liberating. Each experience brought a new rule, a new tradition, a new philosophy or belief. During this time, however, the Clans began to seperate. At first it was ShadowClan; they seperated first due to divided ideas on whether they should be a peacefulk folk or a battle-ready one. WindClan seperated based on similar principles; whether to be a lonesome Clan, or keep ties with the other four, at risk of looking weak? The other Clans followed, but their reasons were more unclear. Was it family groups that felt less at home in such a large population? A young group of bachelors looking to forge their own legends? Noone really knows, exactly; it could be both of those and more. Many of the oldest Clans found their modern territories around this period of time; some would move in the coming seasons, and others live there to this day. BLOODSHED ERA (30 years ago) The finding and claiming of new territories came at a price. Not everyone in the land knew of the Clans, nor of their Codes. The Clans' habit of consistently checking and marking borders, confronting trespassers, and attacking preystealers did not sit well with the wider population. And so, there was conflict. Much of this conflict lead to bloodshed, especially in twoleg-heavy areas. Some rogue and loner groups dealt with it by moving, while others were more commanding of their territory. And much like the variation in response, the Clans responded in different ways as well. Some Clans saw their first fissure during this point. Split between attacking and fleeing, some cats took their fearful followers and fled for new hunting grounds. Some Clans went extinct entirely, killed off and scattered by their attackers. Others moved completely, driven off. Some stuck it out and drove out their enemies, by strength or cleverness. And finally, the last and least common group engulfed their enemies by bargaining, force or diplomacy. Either way, cultures were founded off the results of these terrible and violent times. Some Clans found themselves combining for comfort. Clan cultures, once completely seperated, combined; WindClan and ShadowClan, ThunderClan and RiverClan, SkyClan and ShadowClan. Despite the calming of battle toward the end of this era, peace would not truly be found until the coming of Flamewatcher. PEACEBRINGER ERA (20 years ago) Flamewatcher's original Clan is unknown. All that is known is that she originated in a moor-forest Clan, and that Flamewatcher was not her original Warrior Name. As the story goes, Flamewatcher's legacy began after a terrible storm that spanned all the territories. River-dwellers were flooded, marsh-dwellers were swamped, and ocean-dwellers saw the swell and spray reach heights never before seen. The sky was dark for three days, and on the third day lightning slashed through the sky like great glowing claws. Then, for days after, all was silent as cats picked up the scattered pieces of dens, and some Clans buried their dead. Little did everyone else know, Flamewatcher had discovered an important asset that would change the course of the Clans and stop the fighting that still went on. She had discovered the art of taming and keeping the power of fire, once known as the destruction of all the Clans across the land. After taking her time in harnessing its abilities and its might, she was sent with a small band of Warriors to travel the moors, forests, marshes and shorelines, to spread her newfound gift to the other Clans. One by one she bounced, from territory to territory, teaching a select number of well-trusted cats to wield its light. Some Clans took this more seriously than others: some Clans set aside an entire role for this art, others allowed all of their Warriors to learn the gift, and a few Clans rejected her gift entirely, either daunted by its dangers or traumatized by their own territory being eaten by the heat of flame. Either way, the Clans that accepted fire as a new weapon were able to fend off those rogues and loners that had been harassing them for their territory for upwards of ten years. Flamewatcher never stopped her travels, stopping by every Clan she met to ensure she had offered to them her gift. Some Clans go on to this day without its snow-melting force, while others have forgotten what it was like to live without it. Noone knows where Flamewatcher hailed from, for she never told a soul that had not come with her; and they were sworn to secrecy. Only the Clan who birthed her knows, and they have chosen to never tell or else forgotten. But noone knows where she has laid to rest, either; she died in the territories, traveling with her torch as she always had, and it is assumed her comrades buried her. But despite her mysterious death, her legend lives on in every spark the Clans hold aloft to warm their kits or scald their enemies. STARLIGHT ERA (present) The Starlight Era began after Flamewatcher's death. The Clans have ever known the peace and prosperity as they know now. It is thanks to the gift of fire and their own size and stability that the Gatherings were reinstated. The Clans knew, logically, that they couldn't travel to a Gatheringplace every moon; for some the journey was too long, and for others it was too treacherous. So they held it once every two moons, but this too was too often. Once a season and bi-seasonally nearly worked; but they weren't quite right. The only answer was yearly. And so all the Leaders left their Clans and convened beside a large lake, even bigger than the ancient Lake Territories, to discuss this. They decided the best time to hold a Gathering would be on the first Full Moon of greenleaf, after the leafbare struggle had ended, and the newleaf kits were old enough to feed and care for themselves in the nursery. And so this inspired the habit of tracking the days, the moons, and how many days spanned between the moons. This gave rise to holidays, held consistently and remembered, unique to every Clan and splitoff thereof. The present era holds many secrets, stories and legends yet to be revealed, told and passed down. Where do you fit in?